The GTX1 begins its life as a stunning red GT with no
stripes. This historic moment (left) is captured as Mark Gerisch
of Genaddi Design purchases the GT for one dollar. SEMA
(specialty equipment marketing association) offers an opportunity for
Ford to realize the open air design of the X1 without an expansion
budget for that market of car. The car is purchased for one
dollar and the secondary manufacturer shoulders the cost of the
development of the vehicle. At the time this picture was taken
Genaddi Design Group had just a bit more than three months to finish
the project. 
(Right) Kip Ewing tapes out lines for the design he has
created even before the car leaves for Genaddi Design shop in Wisconsin.
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 Ford
was good enough to provide Genaddi Design with a spare chassis to make
sure the cuts were perfect. Just an empty shell but what could be
learned by cutting this first was indispensable and more than that,
time saving. The cuts were made and perfected on this body but
even surrounded by drawings of the vision of the final car it is hard
to see. 
With cuts perfected on the test car, lines were taped and prepped for taking the blade to the red beauty.
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Angles were checked and readied for the
new surface of the cassette that would be joined with the back
clamshell hood of the GT. A wooden buck was built for a surface
for the clay work that would need to be approved before the part was to
be made. The open space on the test chassis was perfect for
building the form that would soon live in the project vehicle. |
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 Mark
begins the roof cut along the taped guides, the point of no return...
The sawsall is then handed to Tom to complete the ever important cut
while Mark stabilizes the roof panel and minimize vibration. 
People frequently ask how the structure of the car will
be affected from our removal of the top. The interesting thing
about the GT is that as far as torsional rigidity is concerned the
vehicle reads like a roadster to begin with because you lose nearly
three quarters of the roof when the doors are opened. The design
for the open car being done by such an accomplished engineer ensures
that we are not compromising the integrity of the car. This,
coupled with Mark's many years of car building and specifically
convertible and roadster conversions make the x1 a very strong car.
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Time to free the back of the roof. Here Tom
cuts along the taped guide and Grace helps to stabilize the roof panel
and watch the reach of the blade several areas must be watched to be
sure that the blade doesn't cut anything other than what is intended. |
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Tom lifts the first panel free. The panels were
memorialized on the walls of the private work area. The GT
project was kept very quiet while underway. Our special thanks to
Invincible
for the great set up they provided for easy access and the privacy we
had to maintain. The "wall art" that was created was finally
presented to Kip Ewing to thank him for the hard work that he put into
bringing this project to life. |
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 The
wooden buck was fitted into the GT and metal panels finished the areas
that clearances did not allow the thickness of the wood. 
Here shown as a prelude to what it will become, the GT
is finally topless. You can now see easily into the
passenger area of the GT and the frame supports that were placed to
reinforce the structure while cutting and completing frame support for
the final vehicle.
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 Time
is running short. With supervisors from Ford coming to review; there is
precious little time to ready the clay for surface approval. Our
day is saved by Todd Stores of Automotive Jazz, he works long hours and
denies himself the luxury of sleep to finish the clay work with amazing
precision. 
We would like to acknowledge that if it weren't for the
hard work of Todd we would likely have not been able to move forward as
quickly as we did.
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Todd still manages a smile when seated in the car to
preview the fruits of his success despite his lack of sleep and long
hours of hard work to help realize this moment. Kip has been
working with Mark tirelessly on this project, sacrificing weekends to
give his time off to the realization of his dream. Seen on the
right with wife Emily Ewing and son Lucas Ewing, we know the family
support and sacrifice that allows Kip to see a project of this
magnitude through. |
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 The
clay surface approved we can start to take the mold of the part and
finalize the vent openings that will be set into the beautiful rear
buttresses of the X1. The final part will be a composite addition
to the back clamshell. 
The roof panel is made initially of a single panel of
aluminum which is rolled and hammered to create a perfectly smooth
surface with all the right angles to be cut for the final removable
hard top. Mark and Grace spend many hours perfecting the roof
panel just to cut it to join it with the structure that will help it
function as a removable hard top that is solid to any speed that the X1
can reach.
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 Left:
Dale scrutinizes the part for which he spent countless hours perfecting
the mold and surfaces. Days of final adjustment have been
exhausting but worth all of the trouble for such a magnificent piece. 
Right: Steve fits the support under the newly
created cassette piece as it readies to join the rear clamshell.
The support will help stabilize the new part and join it to the
existing rear panels. Final fitting is necessary to ensure that
no surface contact interferes with the smooth operation of the back.
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 Left:
The roof panel with its new structure in place is fitted to the car,
the fit and function of this roof must be precise as the GT has a top
speed of 205mph and the top has to be stable to that speed. 
Right: A new diffuser package was designed to
follow the flow of the back of the GT, Kip and Mark worked on the
design first in cardboard and then in aluminum to test the look of the
new package on the car.
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 Left:
Mark stands proudly over the final masterpiece of so many hard working
people that have brought it to this point, getting ready to roll out
for paint. 
Right: The custom carbon fiber hood is seen with
many other parts of the car disassembled for paint. There are
precious few hours before the X1 needs to be in route to Detroit to be
seen for the first time in its completed stage and then onto SEMA for
its debut. The car is a challenge to paint with so many panels
that must be removed from the car to work on.
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 Left:
Emerging from paint to go back to Genaddi Design for final assembly
before hitting the road on its media journey, the beauty of the car can
finally be seen as the vision it was intended from the beginning of
this journey so many months ago. 
Right: Mark and Kip; proud parents of the GTX1
supercar, one of one in the world, production will be readied for
June.
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